AS the bodies of the 16 'little angels' tragically killed in the Dunblane massacre were being laid to rest - there wasn't a person in the country whose thoughts were not with those families.

But for one Preston couple the tragedy lies closer to home.

One of the innocent children whose life was cruelly cut short was little John Petrie - the five-year-old relative of Martin and Trisha Douglas of Barnacre Way, Fulwood.

"What is even more tragic about his death," said Martin "is his parents Ellen and Sandy had been trying for a family for years. When John was born it was a miracle.

"Now he has been cruelly taken from them. They can't have any more children for medical reasons."

Such was the excitement of John's birth, his time of arrival 10:22am was always etched in their minds - five years later he died at exactly the same time. He was buried yesterday (Wednesday) at the Church of the Holy Family in Dunblane.

Martin, who is originally from Stirling, has just returned from a visit to the grief stricken community.

He said: "I took with me the thoughts and prayers of all the people in Preston and reflected those sentiments in an entry in the Book of Remembrance in Dunblane Cathedral."

Another family who will remember the horrific scenes in Dunblane for the rest of their lives is Keith Yates (pictured) and his children.

Keith, 48, a former pupil of Moor Nook primary school and son of Preston school governor Ron Yates, is chief executive of Stirling Council from April.

He was called on to talk to and comfort teachers at the school after the tragedy and sort out accommodation for the hundreds of press and police.

In a phone call to his dad on the day of the disaster, he told him the whole community was in a state of shock.

Two of his children Amy, 15, and Gregor, 12, were just yards from the tragedy when it happened - but they thought it was just a bad road accident.

Ron said: "They drove through Dunblane, saw all the ambulances and police cars, and carried on to their music exams in the next school.

"They thought it was a road accident. They didn't realise the true horror of it until afterwards. They were very shook up when they found out."

Hopefully the pain and suffering of the Dunblane community will ease in time, though they will never forget what happened on that terrible day, March 13.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.